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Verbal communication includes the usage bally. For example, someone is asked if they
of words, and it is even assisted by human want to go out and says yes, and their gesture
voices or letters. Whereas, nonverbal com- and body language suggests hesitation, it could
munication is different as it refers to how you mean that these non-verbal cues contradict
look, gestures, facial expressions and body what they have communicated verbally. Simi-
postures communicate different meaning. But larly, if someone is asked a question and they
do nonverbal cues like gestures have a specific simply nod or shakes their head, we can under-
meaning at all? stand that the verbal message of yes or no is
substituted using a non-verbal cue. Finally, if
Nonverbal cues can be considered in terms a person who is asked if they need tea shakes
of emblems and illustrators. Emblems are non- their head and says no, they are employing
verbal cues that have a universal meaning in non-verbal cue to repeat and emphasise what
our global culture. is communicated verbally.

1�1�4 Language

Have you ever thought of how language
originated? There is not any theory that
explains the origin of language. It occurred
thousands of years ago and thus remains

Fig 1.1.6 Thumbs-up cue mostly a mystery. We don’t know the details
about the origin of language. The history of
Everyone knows the thumbs-up sign as a language can be traced back to the paleolithic
gesture communicating a meaning. It means age, and the evidence of the scripts of lan-
‘well done’! guages are seen from the neolithic age. How-
ever, through observation, scientists have come
We must remember that though emblems to some realisations and uncovered some pos-
communicate meaning, they are specific to cul- sibilities. It is hypothesized that we started to
tures. They need not communicate the same speak through imitation, just as babies learn
meaning across all cultures. Whereas the illus- imitating the sounds that the adults around
trators, unlike emblems, are unique to a person. them make. Human language has many more
They are not tied to a culture. They are ges- features. The script (alphabet) has no relation
tures we use automatically and involuntarily to with the combined word it can produce. The
inform our utterances. They are nonverbal ges- combination of these sound scripts differ from
tures we use intuitively; neither learnt nor spe- word to word. Thus, we set a different meaning
cific to a culture. They are unique to a person and different pronunciations. We are capable
and the context. For example, if you are seeing of producing new meaningful words, and also
a long-lost school friend, you might say, “I am our language is passed on from generation
so excited”! You would illustrate your happi- to generation. Human infants learn language
ness with a wide sweep of arms and/or a beam- from elder people, which unusually would be
ing smile. These nonverbal gestures are deeply their mother tongue. When they grow up, they
rooted in our communication experience. learn other languages too. In different places,

We can also understand that non-verbal we have different languages.
communication can often contradict, substi- As we have discussed earlier, there are dif-
tute, or emphasise the message conveyed ver-

SGOU - FYUGP - SLM - English for Communication 7